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Reporting website for overwintering brown marmorated stink bug

Jim Jasinski and Celeste Welty, Ohio State University, have been reporting on the invasive brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) for a few years, and this past growing season they saw significant pressure in a few soybean fields (see the 2012-27 issue of CORN). In addition to being found in field crops, fruit and vegetable fields, these stink bugs are also known to invade homes, apartments, businesses, barns, and other man-made structures in the fall. To see an updated map of where BMSB has been detected in Ohio crops, follow this link: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/BMS/viewdata.asp. Because detections in buildings often precedes invasion in nearby crop fields, it is important to collect reports of stink bugs inside buildings.

While finding these bugs in homes may be unsettling to residents, reporting the finds does allow us to get a clearer picture of their distribution in Ohio. If you see BMSB this winter or spring in your home or other structure, use this OSUE site to report it: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bmsb. The report form has 11 questions regarding location, number of insects, time of invasion, and contact information.

BMSB can be identified by alternating black and white bands on the antennae, and black and white bands along the edge of the abdomen that shows under the wings, as well as faint black and white banding on the legs (images can be found at our Ag Crops Insects page under the soybean tab, http://entomology.osu.edu/ag/). To confirm the presence of BMSB, please send your contact information along with a few dead specimens in a tissue padded pill box or other small container to: BMSB ID Program, OSU Extension, 1512 S. US Highway 68, Suite B100, Urbana, OH 43078.

As this new pest expands across Ohio, it is critical to understand its distribution to target future scouting and management. OSU will run its Ohio Soybean Council funded soybean BMSB scouting program again next year to track its march across Ohio.